The Pendulum of Power
An inquiry into two complementary frequencies that alternate, supersede, and shape society, and where natural balance fosters resilience, and manipulation breeds fragility
Originally posted on Redire Ad Solem.
The Two Frequencies of Society
Can a society be understood as two oscillating frequencies sharing the same medium? One generated by the individual and the other by the pinnacle of the social hierarchy? If so, what happens when these frequencies alternate in a rhythmic exchange? With each taking turns to guide and inform the other in a process of dual supersession? What’s dual supersession? Good question!
Dual Supersession is a dynamic mechanism where two complementary functions (such as electric and magnetic fields) alternately replace and evolve into one another within a feedback loop. This recursive process ensures that each function continuously adapts by integrating and transforming information to maintain a coherent, evolving system in both cosmic and biological contexts.
When the Hierarchy Becomes Dominant
What happens when the hierarchical frequency grows so strong that it begins to overpower and entrain individual oscillations, forcing them to align with a single, imposed rhythm?
Could diversity collapse?
Could the hierarchy then fall into a feedback trap?
Might this lead to stagnation?
In the extreme, does this resemble authoritarian resonance?
If so, would such a system appear outwardly stable yet grow increasingly brittle? Like a bridge under constant harmonic stress. Ready to collapse from a single disruptive event.
At first, this might appear to bring order and stability. Diverse, independent signals converge into a unified pattern, giving the illusion of harmony. Yet this harmony is not organic. It is manufactured. Individual voices are no longer free to express their own frequencies. Instead, they are compressed into a narrow, predictable band dictated by the hierarchy’s dominant signal.
Loss of Diversity and Flattening of Signals
When individuality is suppressed, diversity collapses. The dynamic, adaptive variety of independent frequencies that once allowed the collective to evolve and respond to challenges is lost.
Innovation becomes rare. New ideas are stifled before they can take root.
People no longer experiment, explore, or challenge assumptions.
The medium itself becomes monotone. With little variation or complexity.
While this might seem peaceful on the surface. It is akin to a stagnant pond. Calm above. But lifeless within. Will an orthodoxy do almost anything to defend its paradigm? To convince us that the pond is full of life. That their calmness is their assurance.
The Feedback Trap of Central Power
As the hierarchy enforces uniformity, it begins to hear only its own echo. With dissent silenced and individuals entrained to its rhythm, all feedback becomes self-referential.
The hierarchy mistakes obedience for stability. It believes its structures to be strong because no conflicting signals are visible.
Real-world problems go unaddressed. As data from the ground is filtered, distorted, or ignored.
Leadership becomes increasingly detached. Thus, making decisions based on an illusion of control rather than actual conditions.
This is the feedback trap. A state where the hierarchy sustains itself by controlling perception. Even as reality slips out of its grasp.
Stagnation and Fragility
Without the constant renewal provided by individual innovation, the system begins to stagnate.
Old patterns are repeated endlessly. Even when they no longer serve the collective.
The society becomes unable to adapt to external changes. Such as environmental shifts, technological disruptions, or cultural evolution.
What was once a living, responsive structure hardens into a rigid machine. Predictable but inflexible.
Ironically, the very strength of the hierarchy becomes its greatest weakness. Like a bridge subjected to a single, unchanging vibration. It appears stable while slowly accumulating hidden stress.
The Authoritarian Resonance
At its extreme, this dynamic resembles authoritarian resonance. A state in which individuals are no longer co-creators of the social signal. But passive repeaters of what the hierarchy dictates.
Thought, creativity, and adaptation vanish at the grassroots level.
All complexity is forced upward. Concentrated in a few decision-makers.
The system runs on compulsion. Not participation.
Outwardly, this society may seem orderly and powerful. However, beneath the surface, pressure builds. The hierarchy’s unchanging frequency becomes increasingly brittle. And the slightest external shock (a crisis, a rebellion, a natural disaster) can shatter the entire structure.
What looked like unbreakable unity was, in truth, hollow and fragile. Sustained only by force. Eventually, the imbalance corrects itself, often through upheaval, as the suppressed individual frequencies return in a disruptive surge. They break the hierarchy’s hold, and they force the dual supersession to resume its natural and inevitable rhythm.
When the Individual Becomes Dominant
What occurs when the individual frequency grows stronger than the hierarchical one? Spreading and multiplying until it begins to overpower collective structures.
Instead of a single, organizing rhythm, countless signals emerge simultaneously. Each asserting its own pattern. The shared medium becomes fragmented as the coherence once provided by the hierarchy weakens or disappears entirely.
Effects of Individual Over-Dominance
Fragmentation of order: Without a strong collective framework, society risks breaking apart into competing groups. Each has its own frequency and agenda. The result can feel like a cacophony of signals rather than a unified flow.
Loss of shared meaning: Common narratives and symbols dissolve. Without a central integrating force, individuals may struggle to coordinate. This may lead to confusion and mistrust.
Exhaustion of resources: With no harmonizing rhythm to manage distribution, resources are hoarded or wasted. The system’s energy dissipates rather than being directed toward a common purpose.
Vulnerability to external forces: In the absence of collective strength, the fragmented society becomes vulnerable to outside frequencies. Whether it is natural disasters, invading powers, or manipulative external hierarchies.
The Chaotic Extreme
At its most extreme, individual dominance leads to social entropy. Like molecules of water boiling away from a pot. Each element acts on its own. Scattering outward. Cooperation breaks down. Local and temporary structures rise and fall rapidly without stability.
This resembles a state of chaos or disintegration. Where the lack of a unifying rhythm makes long-term planning impossible. Here, even innovation and freedom become self-defeating. Too many competing signals cancel one another out. Thus, it prevents collective growth.
The Cycle Turns
Ironically, just as excessive hierarchy eventually provokes rebellion. Excessive individualism naturally invites consolidation. As disorder grows unbearable, people often yearn for structure. In this state, even a flawed or oppressive hierarchy can seem preferable to unending chaos.
Thus, the cycle swings back:
First comes fragmentation
Then the demand for unity
Finally, the rise of a new hierarchical frequency.
Completing the dual supersession. In this way, both extremes are inherently unstable. Hierarchy crushing individuality or individuals overwhelming hierarchy. Balance comes not from the permanent victory of one side. It comes from the ongoing alternation between them, with each one checking and renewing the other.
When Balance Is Artificial or Manipulated
In a naturally functioning system, the oscillation between individual freedom and hierarchical order arises organically. Like the tide moving in and out. Each phase strengthens the other and creates resilience. But what happens when this natural alternation is hijacked? What happens when the rhythm itself is engineered and controlled?
This produces an illusion of balance. One where society appears to be cycling between freedom and order. Yet both outcomes ultimately feed the same central power. The movement is no longer self-correcting. It is steered by those who benefit from keeping the population trapped within a predetermined oscillation.
The Controlled Oscillation
Consider a duopoly, such as a two-party political system. On the surface, these parties present themselves as opposed forces:
One claims to champion individual liberty, decentralization, and personal expression.
The other claims to stand for collective stability, rules, and shared direction.
To the public, this appears to be a genuine struggle between competing visions of society. People choose sides, believing their votes, protests, or allegiances directly influence which frequency becomes dominant.
But in reality, the two sides are not truly opposed. They are complementary actors playing different roles in a coordinated performance.
The first side pushes for maximum individualism. Policies, culture, and narratives that fragment society and create instability.
As this chaos grows, the population begins to crave order and safety. They become psychologically primed for strong centralized solutions.
The second side then steps in. It offers hierarchical control as the antidote to the very instability that was deliberately fostered.
Once the population accepts this control, the cycle reverses, with the roles switching again. This engineered back-and-forth never resolves. Because resolution is not the goal. The process exists to keep society oscillating in place. Never reaching a true balance that would free it from manipulation.
This is a form of dual supersession, but inverted:
In a natural dual supersession, opposing forces evolve together toward higher complexity and adaptive strength.
In an artificial dual supersession, the forces merely simulate opposition while secretly serving the same master. Thus, consolidating power in the hands of a hidden hierarchy.
The Hidden Overarching Hierarchy
Behind this staged alternation lies an overarching power structure. A level of hierarchy that is not directly visible to the public.
This hidden layer benefits from the artificial oscillation in two key ways:
By creating dependency
Citizens become dependent on the alternating cycle itself.
Each swing between chaos and order reinforces the belief that only the existing system can solve society’s problems.
By growing stronger through the conflict
Every crisis, whether manufactured or real, justifies expanding surveillance, military power, economic control, and cultural influence.
Regardless of which “side” appears to win, the deeper hierarchy always gains ground.
Even this overarching structure, however, is not immune to the same dynamic. It too must navigate the interplay between individual and hierarchical forces at a higher level of scale. In this way, manipulation at one level feeds into manipulation at the next. Thus, creating nested layers of dual supersession. Like gears in a machine. Each one turns the one above it.
Ultimately, the hierarchical dominance collapses into a reactionary individual dominance. And the cyclical alternation continues. Where there are individuals, there will be hierarchies. Where there are both, there will be an alternation. The sooner the general public figures this out, the better. Because the hidden overarching hierarchy has. And they are currently using it against us in psychological warfare.
Why Artificial Balance Is Dangerous
A naturally oscillating society builds resilience because the alternation emerges from the collective will and adapts to real conditions. But an artificially manipulated balance locks society into dependency:
True innovation is stifled because both “sides” are part of the same script.
Public anger is redirected into safe, predictable channels. Thus, it prevents a genuine revolution.
The hierarchy strengthens regardless of outcomes. It absorbs each crisis into its growth.
The population is left exhausted and confused. Unable to tell whether they are rising up against tyranny or unwittingly participating in its expansion.
The Endless Pendulum
In this scenario, freedom and control no longer alternate naturally like breathing. Instead, they are manufactured like a metronome. Ticking back and forth under the hand of those who built the mechanism.
The tragedy is that people still feel as though they are part of a living rhythm. They still fight for freedom, protest against oppression, and celebrate victories. They do not realize that both the victories and the defeats are predetermined steps in a larger design.
The only true escape comes when the population recognizes the artificiality of the oscillation itself and refuses to play either role assigned by the system. Until that moment, the pendulum will continue to swing. Its motion is powered by the very people it deceives. Meanwhile, the hidden hierarchy grows ever stronger in the shadows.
When Balance Is Achieved
What does it look like when neither the individual frequency nor the hierarchical frequency permanently dominates, but instead they interact in rhythm? Each takes its turn to lead and then yield.
In such a state, society operates like a living system. Breathing in and out. Expanding and contracting in a natural, self-sustaining cycle. Rather than being locked into one extreme, the collective continually renews itself through a dynamic exchange between freedom and structure. Between creativity and order. Between exploration and stability.
The Alternating Rhythm
This balance resembles the pattern of inhalation and exhalation. Or the systole and diastole of a heartbeat. There is a phase for expansion. When the many rise to the forefront. And a phase for consolidation. When their diverse contributions are woven together into coherence.
The Individual Phase (Expansion):
During this phase, individuals are free to create, explore, and experiment.
Innovation flourishes as people pursue new ideas and express unique perspectives.
Hidden potentials emerge. They bring vitality and novelty into the collective.
Social diversity broadens. Thus, generating a wide spectrum of solutions and adaptations.
This is the time of open growth. Where the future is seeded by the imaginative power of individuals.
The Hierarchy Phase (Integration):
Once ideas have been generated, the hierarchy steps forward to gather, refine, and organize them.
Structures are built to stabilize what has been discovered.
Shared narratives and systems are established to unify diverse contributions.
Collective energy is focused. Thus, ensuring that creativity does not scatter into chaos.
This is the time of cohesion. Where the many are brought into alignment without erasing their individuality.
Just as a body cannot live in a constant state of inhalation or exhalation. A society cannot thrive in perpetual individualism or unbroken hierarchy. It must move fluidly between phases. It must allow each frequency to rise and fall in turn.
Resilient Diversity and Adaptation
When this rhythm is maintained, society develops resilient diversity. A dynamic balance between stability and change.
Individuals retain enough freedom to generate fresh ideas. Thus, preventing stagnation.
The hierarchy provides enough structure to coordinate efforts. Thus, preventing fragmentation.
External shocks can be absorbed and integrated. Because no single element bears the entire burden of adaptation.
This creates a self-correcting system. One that constantly updates itself through feedback. When individuals push too far into chaos, the hierarchy naturally strengthens to bring coherence. When the hierarchy grows too rigid, individual creativity rises to break through and restore movement.
Each side regulates the other without requiring total victory.
The Rhythm of Renewal
In this harmonious state, the society does not freeze into perfection. Instead, it lives through continuous, cyclical renewal.
Old structures are periodically dismantled and rebuilt. Refreshed by new insights.
The collective avoids both decay and tyranny by never lingering too long in one mode.
Progress unfolds not in a straight line. It unfolds in cycles of rise and release. Like waves moving across the surface of the medium.
Here, true harmony is not stillness or uniformity. It is a dynamic equilibrium. A living rhythm where both the individual and hierarchy play essential roles. Neither is ultimate. Neither is permanent. And it is precisely this alternation that allows the society to remain adaptive, creative, and alive.
The Heartbeat Analogy
Could this be understood through the metaphor of a heartbeat?
In systole, the hierarchy contracts. It centralizes power and focus. Thus, providing collective strength.
In diastole, the system relaxes. It enables individuals to explore freely and generate new patterns.
If the heart stayed contracted (hierarchy dominance), blood would cease to flow. Life would end. If it stayed relaxed (individual dominance), there would be no pressure or direction. Life would also end.
Is society’s vitality, then, sustained by this alternating pulse? Is it possible to consciously tune these societal frequencies so that neither the individual nor the hierarchy permanently overtakes the other? Is it possible to create a dynamic equilibrium that continually adapts without falling into tyranny or chaos?
Political Implications
How do these oscillating frequencies play out in the realm of real-world governance? If society truly operates through the interplay of individual and hierarchical forces. Then the health of political systems depends on whether they maintain the alternation between these two phases. Or risk becoming trapped in one extreme.
When one side dominates for too long, the system begins to distort. And the very structures meant to sustain order and vitality eventually turn against themselves. History, in this view, is a record of imbalances and corrections. Periods when societies fail to oscillate naturally and are forced into abrupt, often violent resets.
The Hierarchical Trap: Centralization Without Release
If the hierarchical frequency remains dominant for an extended period, it tends to concentrate power and control at the top until the system becomes rigid and unresponsive.
Political forms become increasingly centralized. They evolve into empires, bureaucracies, technocracies, or authoritarian states.
Decision-making is locked within a small elite. They are cut off from the complexity and feedback of the wider population.
The system relies on uniformity and compliance. It suppresses dissent and innovation to preserve the illusion of harmony.
At first, this centralization may appear efficient and stable. Laws are enforced, infrastructure expands, and external threats are met with organized strength. But over time, the very efficiency of centralization becomes a liability.
Fresh ideas no longer rise through the hierarchy. Thus, leaving it unable to adapt to changing conditions.
Outdated structures persist. They are defended by those who benefit from their continuation.
Like an aging tree, the society grows hollow at its core. Outwardly solid but inwardly brittle.
When external shocks occur (war, famine, economic collapse, or natural disaster), the brittle structure shatters, often with catastrophic speed. Thus, the stability once promised by centralization transforms into sudden, uncontrollable chaos. As seen in the rapid falls of great empires throughout history.
The Individual Trap: Fragmentation Without Unity
On the other side, if the individual frequency remains unchecked for too long, the pendulum swings into the opposite extreme. Fragmentation and disorder.
Groups splinter into smaller factions. Each to pursue its own interests and interpretations.
Common narratives, values, and goals begin to erode. Thus, leaving no shared foundation to guide collective action.
Power becomes decentralized to the point where coordination collapses. And local conflicts multiply.
While this state may at first seem liberating. A flowering of freedom and diversity. It carries its own dangers.
Without integration, resources are mismanaged, duplicated, or destroyed.
Disputes go unresolved. They escalate into cycles of violence and instability.
External powers, observing the lack of unity, can exploit divisions to impose their own agendas.
In this condition, even well-intentioned innovations fail to take hold because there is no common structure to stabilize them. The society resembles a scattered signal with countless frequencies interfering and canceling one another out.
Ironically, this chaos often invites the return of hierarchy. Populations become desperate for stability. In such times, they may even welcome an oppressive central authority. Trading freedom for order.
The Need for Rhythmic Governance
If both extremes are destructive, then what does a stable political order require?
Perhaps the answer lies not in choosing one side permanently, but in honoring the natural rhythm between them.
Periods of decentralization allow creativity, diversity, and experimentation to flourish, refreshing the collective with new possibilities.
Periods of consolidation integrate these possibilities into shared structures, providing direction and strength.
This suggests that healthy governance must breathe. Just as a living organism does.
Inhale: Centralizing when unity and coordination are needed.
Exhale: Decentralizing when innovation and freedom are required.
When this rhythm is disrupted, either by an entrenched hierarchy or by runaway individualism, society loses its ability to self-correct. And violent upheaval becomes inevitable.
The greatest challenge of political leadership, then, is not to enforce permanent dominance. Its greatest challenge is to guide the oscillation. Thus, ensuring that neither force overpowers the other for too long. In doing so, governance becomes less about control and more about synchronizing the collective heartbeat and sustaining balance across generations.
Political Implications of Artificial Balance
What happens when the natural rhythm between individual freedom and hierarchical control is replaced by a manufactured oscillation?
Could this create a political landscape where apparent rivals (parties, movements, even revolutions) are part of the same system? Could their conflict be carefully staged to keep society swinging between chaos and order without ever escaping either?
If so, might this explain why empires rarely fall from external enemies but rather collapse from within? After generations of being locked into a controlled cycle of crisis and consolidation.
Perhaps the most profound implication is that true reform becomes nearly impossible. Because every uprising, every election, every “change” only feeds the deeper hierarchy. Thus, tightening its grip while the people believe they are winning back their freedom.
If the oscillation itself is the trap, then maybe the only real revolution is to step outside the rhythm entirely. Thereby, refusing to play either role in the script.
Ultimately, the vitality of society depends not on the dominance of either individuals or hierarchy. It depends on the ongoing alternation between these forces. When each frequency is allowed to rise, fall, and inform the other, society becomes adaptive, creative, and resilient.
Conversely, when this rhythm is hijacked or frozen, stagnation, fragility, and manipulation take hold. Recognizing and respecting the natural pulse of dual frequencies may be the key to breaking cycles of artificial control and sustaining a truly dynamic social order.
